Sara Harwin

Over a career spanning more than forty years of continuous productivity, Sara Harwin has earned widespread recognition for work from fine art to ritual and ceremonial art, including torah mantels, tallitot, parochot and chupot. These works utilize diverse techniques, including acrylic painting, papercutting, mixed media, limited edition prints, stained and etched glass, and fiber art. Across these diverse media, Sara Harwin has created a recognizable body of work, utilizing strong jolts of color, sacred imagery, pattern, and movement that invite the viewer to go beyond seeing and enter the realm of experience.

The themes drawn upon Sara's work are universal and have been described as "deceptively eloquent, encompassing the joy and celebration that can be found in life, love, and spirituality." This diversity of expression in media, both two and three dimensional, has been the foundation from which the idea for her Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection project collaboration with Reclaiming Judaism has emerged. The Illuminated Letters project was conceived in 2007, as a way to further her own exploration of Jewish text and language through art. A traveling exhibition is anticipated for 2014 along with the corresponding exhibition book through Reclaiming Judaism Press.

Provides the tools and understanding necessary to create a conscious Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience infused with spirituality and meaning. The original purpose of this important rite of passage is carefully reclaimed: Ensuring a healthy Jewish lens for living is conveyed to each student; a lens that supports love of life and respect for life.